You Foolish Galatians

One of the many ways that Scripture teaches us is by testing us. In the first verse of chapter 15, Mark tells us that “the whole Council” deliberated, bound up Jesus, and delivered him to Pilate. The whole Council.

During the Crucifixion, the public portrayal of Christ’s shame is inescapable. Jesus was ridiculed, abused, and finally, taunted to “come down from the Cross.” Not only his enemies, but his supposed friends abandoned him. Even those who shared his fate derided him. At that moment, whatever you might say about Jesus, he was neither prominent nor respected—by anyone.

Then, suddenly, at the end of chapter 15, a member of the same Council that delivered him up to Pilate—no, not a just a member, a prominent member—appears to take him down from the Cross. Do you believe your eyes? Do you admire respectable prominence? Are you impressed by what a nice man he is?